How to Use the LG G3 as a Personal Hotspot

The new LG G3 is a powerful smartphone that can do a lot of things, and one of them is act as a personal hotspot. A portable internet connection that can be shared to the iPads, Nexus 7 or laptops we all use, and let them connect to the internet anywhere there is a cell phone signal.

Whether you call it a personal hotspot, portable hotspot, mobile hotspot or just tethering — we’re talking about using the LG G3 to connect other devices to the internet. Our smartphones signal and internet connection for data can be shared and essentially deliver faster speeds than many home WiFi networks to your laptop or tablet, no matter where you are.

It’s a concept and feature many users still don’t understand, but essentially you can share your phones connection to other devices, and make them have internet access while you’re out and about. Below we’ll explain just how easy it is to use your LG G3 (or any Android phone) as a personal hotspot and internet connection.

The most common method is to use WiFi tethering. All this does is shares your phones connection over WiFi to any of your devices. Whether this be your laptop, or sharing it with tablets in the car for your kids. This process is similar to how you connect to the Starbucks WiFi on an iPad, only it’s using your phones connection, instead of Starbucks overly used and slow internet access. Alternatively there’s also wired USB tethering, so your LG G3 can charge while it shares that connection to your Macbook, or laptop of choice.

The easiest method is to pay for hotspot features from your wireless provider like AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. Sadly this will usually cost an extra $10-$15 a month unless you’re on some of the recent high limit data plans. Many of the mobile share plans we’ve been seeing the past 6-8 months have hotspot enabled, for free. Just make sure you don’t tether too much and go over your data limit, otherwise you’ll have extra fees to pay at the end of the month.

If your plan offers tethering and hotspot features, or you’ve paid to use them, below are the few simple steps you’ll need to take to turn it on, rename your connection so you can easily find it, and secure it with a password so others don’t use it.

Instructions

With the LG G3 there’s actually a mobile hotspot quick-setting in the pulldown bar, but you’ll want to head into settings and get everything properly configured first, especially if this is your first time. Simply start by pulling down the notification bar and hitting the top right gear-shaped settings button, then go to “tethering & networks” or some carriers may have it listed as “Mobile Hotspot”.

Settings -> Tethering & networks -> and tap Mobile Hotspot to set it up

Head into the settings shown and detailed above (and below) before you turn it on, so you can set up everything. Here you’ll be able to choose a WiFi name for your device, leave the security type at WPA2 PSK, then select a password that you can remember, but isn’t easy to guess. Don’t use 123456789. From here hit save at the bottom, and turn on Mobile Hotspot with the switch at the top.

From here you can set the name and password for your hotspot. Make sure you use a password or someone will likely use all your data.

As you can see above it’s all rather simple. Once you go through the initial setup which only requires a few minutes of your time, or less, you’re all done.

Now all you need to do is turn on WiFi on your other smartphones, tablets, laptop, or any other wireless device and search for your new LG G3 hotspot. I named mine “My G3 Hot” so it’s easy to recognize. Once you find your newly created hotspot simply login with the password you’ve just created, and you now are using your LG G3 as a personal hotspot and sharing its internet connection with your other devices.

USB or Bluetooth

WiFi tethering for a personal hotspot is the easiest, and doesn’t require any wires. However, users can used a USB cable to do what’s called a wired tether. Sharing your LG G3 connection via USB to a laptop, which will also charge your smartphone at the same time. The same settings menu above has USB Tethering you can turn on, or Bluetooth tethering for those who still want to take that route as well.

If you’re like me and would rather not spend an extra $15 or so a month for tethering features, there’s a few options available to you. Our favorite is Klink, since it’s a simple wired connection, but Easy Tether Pro and other options are also available. You can also root (jailbreak for Android) your new LG G3 and use an array of the tether apps from the Play Store, or pay for something like Tether without root if you really need a hotspot but can’t afford the $15 per month price asked by carriers.

Last but not least, it’s a good idea to add a data usage reminder or alert so you don’t spend all of your data plan tethering to a tablet and watching Netflix. We know Dexter or Breaking Bad is addicting, but you don’t want to go over your data limit. Head into Settings > Data Manager > and set the slider at an appropriate limit to keep yourself safe.

That’s it. Enjoy internet on any of your device, anytime, as long as you follow the steps outlined above.

How about making the hotspot hidden, and/or rename it? Mine had a very generic name that I think should be very likely to collide with other users. I also do now want to waste battery on people hammering at my phone.

Whenever I try to turn on “Hotspot” on my LG G3 phone, it returns with this message “There is a temporary network problem that prevents the enablement of the Mobile Hotspot function.please try later.” Don’t know what to do. Can anyone help me out?

Whenever I try to turn on “Hotspot” on my LG G3 phone, it returns with this message “Authentication was unsuccessful. There is a temporary network problem that prevents the enablement of the USB tethering function. Please try later.” Please help me out how to use mobile internet via USB tethering or Bluetooth.

Pls I did all you said sir, but what is coming is quite different from the images and the explanations here on my own LG G3 (Android 5.0.1) and I wish I can send you all the screenshot so you get me better. Pls me I can’t still connect my hotspot to laptop?